Last week, I took part in an international conference on the evolvement of work and professions, of which Demos Institute is a partner. This conference was held at the Collège de France, initiated by Professor Alain Berthoz, head of Physiology of Perception and Action along with Professor Yves Clot, head of Psychology of Work at CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers).
A few ideas came to mind during the various sessions I sat.
Firstly, I was not surprised by the extent of the profound knowledge demonstrated by the speakers, which of course is demanded by such an event and teaching establishment. The quality of the lectures was level with the reputation and status of the researchers who were present at this conference.
What surprised me has more to do with the way some of the lectures seemed to me to be rather outdated and old-fashioned. This is no doubt due to my daily contact with communication technologies, but reading from sheets of paper for minutes at a time seemed to me like a less appropriate method of communication was being brought back into our contemporary society, by and large because of our ever developing media.
Next, the reflections, whether they are historical, analytical or comparative, particularly when they rose to a high degree of abstraction, seemed to me to suffer from a certain amount of isolation. With that, I mean that the point was not necessarily connected to the previous speech themes, or those to come.
Still, I’m most likely a victim of my own concerns about combining operational knowledge within a business. However, a clearer link between the conferences seemed desirable at the heart of certain sessions of the event.
Finally, without wanting to deny the deep interest which drove me, with Demos Institute, to chair and comment on a session dedicated to new forms of organisation and management, I found that in a conference focused around fields of work, the part of entrepreneurs and executives remained weak; the researchers and academics occupying what is most important regarding reflection and communication.
Despite such friendly comments, I’d like to repeat the fact that I was greatly satisfied that our company took part in such an event. Such participation demonstrates the vitality and modernness of our group, notably thanks to the lecture by Philippe Gil who knew how to make the audience aware of e-learning 2.0 of which we are passionate promoters. I do hope that Demosgroup will continue to make its presence known at large events which affect, directly or indirectly, activity, teaching and knowledge in the professional world.